No, Trump wasn’t caught insulting his supporters

Hot mics have burned many politicians, even President Donald Trump. 

But a recent video supposedly showing him insulting his supporters as he tours a North Carolina facility working on a COVID-19 vaccine was created as a joke. 

"I can’t say ‘health reasons,’ these people don’t care about their health," a masked Trump appears to be saying as he walks around a lab. "So you have to say ‘patriotism’ so I say ‘patriotism’ and hopefully some of them wear a mask. I don’t really care as long as they’re here to vote so I have to say ‘be a patriot,’ that’s motivating these animals, okay? The people I call ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ people. If I say ‘health,’ how do you get somebody to be healthy when they’re balls deep in their sister, shooting Mountain Dew in their veins and snorting opioids while watching ‘Tiger King’ for the 45th time?"

A banner beneath the video says: "Trump off the record" and gives a link to the website of Project Veritas, a conservative group known for going undercover with hidden cameras to record Democratic politicians and liberal groups, among others, and then posting often misleadingly-edited videos online. 

"What a deplorable man," reads one tweet that shared the video. "Truly." 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

The video doesn’t appear on the Project Veritas website. Rather, it was first tweeted by a parody Twitter account called Parodia News Network, and from there it seems it took on a life of its own as social media users started sharing it without the caveat that this isn’t real.

Featured Fact-check

Facebook posts

stated on January 22, 2020 in a Facebook post

Says a coronavirus patent expired just as there is a "sudden outbreak" and, despite "media fear-mongering," there is already a vaccine available.

Though the voice in the video sounds like the president, comedian J-L Cauvin — a talented Trump impersonator — has claimed credit. 

The footage that appears in the video was posted on July 27, unedited, by a CBS affiliate. Trump says little, listening instead, as he tours the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Innovation Center in Morrisville, N.C. 

But the video that’s being shared on social media is fake, and claims that it’s real are wrong. Pants on Fire!